Big discount makes new Dacia Spring UK’s cheapest car at £12k

The updated Dacia Spring EV has become the UK’s cheapest car, at £12,240.

The small hatchback has been discounted by £3750 by the Romanian brand in response to the UK government’s Electric Car Grant.

Being made in China, the Spring doesn't qualify for the ECG, which knocks either £1500 or £3750 off the price of a new EV, so Dacia has launched its own matching incentive.

The discount can also be had in the form of a deposit contribution on PCP finance. On a four-year contract with a customer deposit of £2776, allowing 6000 miles to be driven annually, that results in a monthly payment of £129 per month on the entry-level model.

What's new for the Dacia Spring in 2026?

Chief among the changes made to the Spring for 2026 are the introduction of two new motors that are intended to make it “fit naturally into motorway traffic”.

The previous 45bhp and 65bhp motors have been removed from the line-up in favour of punchier 70bhp and 101bhp options.

With 70bhp, the Spring can hit 62mph from rest in 12.3sec – a significant improvement on the 19.1sec taken by the old 45bhp version. With the 101bhp motor (priced from £13,240), it takes 9.6sec.

Along with the new motors, Dacia has also equipped the Spring with a new 24.3kWh battery which uses the lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry. A first for any Renault Group model, this is said to reduce costs, last longer and improve thermal safety compared with conventional nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC). 

The new battery gives an unchanged 140 miles of range on the WLTP test cycle, which Dacia said is enough to "easily cover a full working week with a single charge", but it can now charge at up to 40kW in range-topping Extreme form, up from 30kW as standard.